Tornado Relief: Sending aid to Kentucky residents

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Workers, volunteers and members of the National Guard have spread out over Kentucky in areas hit hard by a series of devastating tornadoes. The long process of recovery which includes repairing the power grid, sheltering those whose homes were destroyed, and delivering supplies, has begun.

While replacing thousands of damaged utility poles and delivering bottles of drinking water, authorities say the search for the dead is ongoing.

The massive tornado struck Friday, Dec. 10, killing at least 88 people in five states — 74 of them in Kentucky — according to an Associated Press report. The trail of devastation stretched from Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed, to Illinois, where an Amazon distribution center was heavily damaged.

Photo Credit: Getty

In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said the death toll could potentially grow as authorities continued to work around debris that slowed recovery efforts. Official sources tell Empowering Everyday Women that 450 National Guard members have been mobilized in the state, and 95 of them are searching for those presumed dead.

“With this amount of damage and rubble, it may be a week or even more before we have a final count on the number of lost lives,” the governor said.

Empowering Everyday Women is joining the relief efforts by shifting aid to Kentucky during this horrific tragedy. Give now to help us do more.

Across the state, about 26,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, including nearly all of those in Mayfield. More than 10,000 homes and businesses had no water as of Monday, and another 17,000 are under boil-water advisories, Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett told reporters.

So far, $6 million in donations have been given toward relief, according to the governor, and a Christmas toy drive for children affected by the storm has been launched for families in need.

State and local officials said it could take years for some of the hardest-hit areas to fully recover.

“This again is not going to be a week or a month operation, folks. This will go on for years to come. This is a massive event,” Dossett said.

We are sending prayers as well as providing humanitarian efforts to Kentucky at this difficult time. Please join us by donating whatever you can. Your support means everything.

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The Associated Press writer Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.

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